Posted
by
samzenpus
on Thursday October 20, 2011 @07:34PM
from the do-as-we-say-not-as-we-do dept.

itwbennett writes "Responding to a U.S. request to explain China's policies regarding blocking U.S. websites, China's foreign ministry said the country's Internet policies have been open and clear. 'The Chinese government encourages and actively supports the Internet's development and we also protect the freedom of expression of citizens in China,' said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. 'We welcome foreign companies to invest and develop here, and we will continue to foster an open policy market.' The request, filed under World Trade Organization rules, is an effort to understand the trade impact of such blocking after a number of U.S. businesses have made complaints about access to their websites in China."

Ya, 99% chance it's BS. However, with nasty inflation hitting all the major cities in China (food now costs as much as here in the US), perhaps they're begging for foreign investment again. But that's purely conjecture on my part.

Well, the truth is that many Chinese citizens want this type of censorship to protect them. Most Chinese are conditioned to think that the harmony of the state takes precedence over all else. It follows that any major source of chaos needs to be stamped out.

I doubt most slashdotters or even most Westerners realize this critical cultural difference. Like it or now, that is the type of thinking you are up against. Conventional wisdom in China says that change is slow, because there are so many people and a lot of cultural inertia.

Change is coming to China, very slowly. All those Chinese with elite foreign education are returning to China, and those returning chafe at restricted internet access and other abridged privileges (unless they're in government).

On another note, in Chinese intellectual circles a common discussion is how to manage the decline of the West. We (Westerners) need to become more sophisticated in how we spar with our friendly adversaries.

I would say that US is more pathetic. At least China keeps it within their own region. US takes it everywhere with ACTA, DMCA and actually making Verisign and ICANN remove domains for copyright infringement. China filters and doesn't affect other countries.

Regardless, the summary here is again written in such a manner that it's only there to gain responses like "fuck China!". They *are* very open about their policies. US less so, where everything seems to be done secretly. ACTA has been and is being pushed secretly too. Chinese people also want that kind of controlling of the internet. They know you can't change everything at once or it will lead to even more larger problems. They're slowly changing, but you can't do it at once, and people understand it. It's funny you Americans promote the idea of democracy but then want to force people of other countries to do as you do. Why can't let the Chinese choose themselves?